You may call them Crab Spiders but these guys are actually Gastrecantha carciforms and are also known as tiny orb spiders. This class of spiders or arachnid’s can be found from Florida to North Carolina and west to California. This particular species belong to a pantropical genius from Europe.

The tiny orb spider’s markings are black dots on top and yellow dots on the bottom with red spines. Because of these markings it is a very easy spider to identify. This spider can have a variety of different shapes and colors of its abdominal spines.

It has been described by scientists under so many names, that it would be too much to list them here. Because of its movements and appearance, most Florida residents call it a “crab spider”. Please do not mistake it as part of the Thomisidoe family, also called “Crab Spiders”.

The male and female spiders have slightly different colors, having a black carapace, legs and venter, with some white spots on the underside of the abdomen. Florida specimens have white with black spotted dorsum on their abdomen. Other specimens from other areas may have a yellow abdominal dorsum, instead of the white, or they can have black instead of red. They also could be almost entirely black on their dorsal and ventral areas. The male may also have four or five small humps instead of abdominal spikes like the female has.

Florida specimens have white with black spotted dorsum on their abdomen. Other specimens from other areas of the United States may have a yellow abdominal dorsum, instead of the white, or they can have black instead of red. They also could be almost entirely black on their dorsal and ventral areas. The male may also have four or five small humps instead of abdominal spikes like the female has.

When these spiders mate, the male spider will hang by a single thread from the female’s web prior to them mating. The female tiny orb spider can lay a whopping 101-256 egg covered by egg sacs. These eggs can measure 20-25 millimeters long and 10-15 millimeters wide. You can typically find these eggs on the underside of a leaf, near the mother’s web, around October to January. Although these eggs are laid in high numbers, they have natural predators. Eggs typically hatch 11-13 days after they are laid and take an additional 7-10 days to become spiders. After all that the spiders will take another 2-5 weeks to be able to make some very tiny, inconspicuous orb webs. The spiders will start growing larger around late summer and early fall. The typical lunch for these types of spiders are whiteflies, flies, moths, beetles, and gnats caught in their webs.

Shed your fear of spiders